Something stinks in the Jordanian kingdom

Tuesday, January 02, 2007 |
by Staff Writer

As if Israel doesn’t have enough trouble with its neighbors, a new problem arose in the southern border with Jordan this weekend as King Abdullah II of Jordan filed a complaint with Israel regarding severe bovine odors blown across the border into Jordan and the city of Aqaba.

According to Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection Gideon Ezra the odors are likely emanating from a holding pen for livestock arriving from Australia into the port of Eilat on the Red Sea and held in quarantine in Kibbutz Eilot, a few kilometers north of the city. The purpose of the pen is to ensure the cattle are not infected with any disease which could trigger an epidemic in Israel.

The complaint was made to the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital of Amman and came personally from the king himself after westerly winds coming from Israel pushed the unpleasant odors into Jordanian territory and had overwhelmed him during a weekend stay at his vacation palace in Aqaba, across the border from Eilat.

Minister Ezra said in response to the complaint that he ordered that immediate action be taken in regard to the complaint including spreading of deodorizing material as a temporary measure until the facility could be properly cleaned.

"I think that when we get a request from Jordan, just as when we make a request of Jordan, it's one country's duty to do as much as possible for the other," Ezra said.

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